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14 May 2010 12:07

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Biz: Seattle’s Best pre-fabs its way into being “the coffee of the poeple”

  • Starbucks owns this brand. That’s all you need to know. The company has owned this coffee offshoot for about seven years, and now plans to market it as if it’s the Old Navy to their Gap. To that, we say, “Caribou Coffee.” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

14 May 2010 10:55

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Biz: Credit-card makers hit hard by the Senate’s debit-card changes

  • -8.5% decline in Visa’s stock since the Senate passed the changes last night
  • -7.5% decline in MasterCard’s stock; the amendment limits card fees source
  • » Other companies: Visa and MasterCard felt it the worst, but they weren’t alone. American Express and Capital One also fell sharply in trading this morning due to the amendment’s unexpected passage, which limits the fees card companies can charge merchants. It still needs to go through the House as part of the broader financial reform bill.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

13 May 2010 20:59

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Biz, U.S.: The Senate wants to take the bite out of debit-card “swipe fees”

  • 64 senators voted to add the amendment to the financial reform bill
  • 65% of debit transactions
    will be affected by
    the changes
  • yes the bill will allow incentives for those who pay with cash source
  • » The addition, explained: Banks and other financial institutions charge fees for consumers to use debit cards. The fees aren’t significant for big-ticket retail chains but can hurt the bottom line of small businesses or those that specialize in selling lots of inexpensive items (say, 7-Eleven or McDonald’s). These fees can get passed down to the consumer as a result. The bill limits how much those fees can be, but leaves exceptions for banks with less than $10 billion in assets. Credit unions, by the way, are complaining loudly about these changes, in particular.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

13 May 2010 11:11

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Biz: Payrolls have increased, but jobless claims are still high; why?

  • People aren’t getting laid off, but jobs aren’t getting created. With a decrease in new jobless claims by less than 4,000 (there were 444,000 new jobless claims this week) against a backdrop of increasing payrolls, many are wondering why job growth isn’t faster. Some are suggesting it’s tied to the high unemployment rate. “There are more jobs being created, but the general trend is that businesses are still reluctant to hire,” said analyst Gary Shilling of A. Gary Shilling & Co. The data show that the issue is more a lack of hiring and not people getting laid off.” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

12 May 2010 21:14

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Biz, U.S.: The federal deficit blew the roof off of April’s record

  • 19 straight months of federal
    deficit increases source
  • » Why it’s alarming this time: It’s relatively rare for deficit increases to happen in the month of April, due to the fact that it’s tax season and lots of revenue is coming in. In fact, there’s been an April surplus 43 of the last 56 years. Even crazier, the increase this April was four times bigger than last April, from $20 billion to $83 billion. That’s also twice the Wall Street estimate of $40 billion.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 8 Comments • Permalink

12 May 2010 20:28

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Biz: Mark Cuban sued for sucking at running the Dallas Mavericks

  • $273
    million     amount the Mavericks
    have lost in Cuban’s nine years
    of running the team
  • 76%
    share     amount of the team Cuban owns;
    Ross Perot Jr. owns 5 percent, and
    he’s mad source
  • » Why’s he getting sued? Simply put, Perot (the former presidential candidate’s son) thinks that Cuban is putting an unsustainable amount of debt on the team, and that they’ll become insolvent over time. The famously outspoken Cuban, who bought most of the team from Perot back in 2000, has enough money in his bank account and a diverse enough portfolio of businesses to ensure that doesn’t happen, and suggests that Perot is merely looking to get out of the deal.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

12 May 2010 11:03

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Biz: Wal-Mart forgot to pay workers in California some of their wages

  • $86M
     the possible size of the total settlement, based on underpaid wages and vacation time
  • 232k
     the number of former workers that could benefit from the class-action suit
  • $370 the amount that would net each employee, on average, which isn’t that much source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

12 May 2010 09:47

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Biz: The U.S. trade deficit widens in March. What does that mean?

  • $188B the value of goods the U.S. imported from other countries in March
  • $147B the value of goods the U.S. exported to other countries in March
  • $40.4B the gap between
    the two     – a.k.a. our trade deficit source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

11 May 2010 10:41

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Biz: Despite the recalls, Toyota actually made big profits last quarter

  • $2.2B the size of Toyota’s profits over the last fiscal year, after a down year
  • $1.2B the profits Toyota made during their recall troubles last quarter
  • 53k the increase in new car sales the company expects this year source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

10 May 2010 20:38

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Biz, U.S.: BP’s oil-defeating costs getting higher, solutions getting dumber

  • $350
    million     the amount the Gulf spill has
    cost the oil company so far
  • golf
    balls (?!)     one of the devices BP is considering to stop the leak source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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